The woman who police suspect had her throat slashed by Sydney knife rampage attacker was a sex worker operating from her home.
The 21-year-old’s body was found on the fourth floor of a Clarence Street building at 3.15pm on Tuesday.
Police allege Mert Ney, also 21, slashed her throat with a butcher’s knife before sparking six minutes of carnage in the heart of the city.
Detectives are going through the pair’s phones to establish the nature of their relationship.
Police were seen carrying the woman’s body out of the building and loading it into a van early on Wednesday morning.
Officers also raided Ney’s home in Marayong, near Blacktown in western Sydney.
The 21-year-old’s body was found on the fourth floor of a Clarence Street building at 3.15pm on Tuesday, after Mert Ney slashed her throat with a knife
The knifeman was seen on the corner of King and Clarence Street, wielding a large blade and calling on someone to shoot him
Footage shows the attacker being pinned to the ground by hero bystanders carrying milk crates
Mert Ney (pictured), 21, was arrested after he was subdued by heroic bystanders about 2pm
The victim had a personal listing on Locanto under the section ‘men seeking women’, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said Ney had visited the woman for ‘business purposes’.
‘It appears he (Ney) was there for a business purpose,’ he said.
Nay, from Blacktown in the city’s west, was arrested shortly after 2pm in Sydney’s CBD.
Dramatic footage of the arrest shows bystanders holding Nay down and a milk crate being used to keep his head trapped.
Police said they do not believe it is a terror-related incident, and said the alleged attacker did not have links to any terrorist organisations.
Horrific footage showed the man, wearing a grey hooded jumper and holding a large knife, jumping on top of a Mercedes while screaming ‘shoot me in the head’.
Brave witnesses were able to tackle the man and pin his head down with a milk crate until police arrived and arrested him as hundreds of workers gathered.
Police praised on Tuesday evening the civilians, fire fighters and ambulance staff for preventing ‘what could have been a much worse situation’.
Friends of the Sydney knifeman say he recently converted to Islam and was an ‘odd person’.
A man was in the same class as Ney at Blacktown Boys High School said he was shocked at reports he was behind the attacks.
‘I always thought he was a bit weird and he was always posting about converting [to Islam] and stuff like that,’ the man, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
‘[But] I didn’t expect him to go this far.’
Ney, 21, grew up in a weatherboard home (pictured) in Marayong, near Blacktown, the middle sibling of two siblings and the son of Turkish-Cypriot parents
The Marayong home of suspect Mert Nay is being searched by NSW Police tonight in Sydney
Neighbour’s that new Ney growing up say he was ‘not much of a talker’ and wouldn’t interact with others
The woman’s body was removed from the property in Sydney’s CBD in the early hours of Wednesday morning
Forensics experts combed the scene for any evidence and were seen laying yellow markers on the street
Investigation: Homicide cops discussed the operation outside the home of the attacker in Marayong, near Blacktown in Sydney’s west
The forensics operation extended long into the night with officers patrolling the scene following the stabbings
Stunned onlookers were scene frozen in the street as the man with a knife began his stabbing rampage through the streets
A man wearing a grey hoodie covered in blood wielding a large knife could be seen yelling in the street as hundreds of people fled for their lives
The Transport Management Centre urged motorists to avoid King Street – south of the city’s Wynyard Station – following the alleged attack on Tuesday afternoon
As of 8.30pm Tuesday evening, police had taped off the family home but it was unclear whether they will raid the property.
Investigators do not believe it is a terror-related incident, and said the alleged attacker did not have links to any terrorist organisations – despite witnesses reporting the attacker was muttering religious slogans including ‘Allahu Akbar’.
But NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said they found information on the man including a USB stick ‘suggesting he had some ideologies related to terrorism’.
A man is in custody after allegedly stabbing a woman in Sydney’s CBD this afternoon
The thumb drive allegedly also referenced mass shootings in New Zealand and the USA – including March’s Christchurch terror attack.
Commissioner Fuller added the suspect had been known to police, although his prior history did not compare to his alleged actions in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.
The alleged attacker is believed to have acted at random, and is expected to be charged later on Tuesday evening.
Witness Jess Warren, 28, said she was was having lunch at the Regiment CBD cafe when the knife man was finally arrested.
She told Daily Mail Australia fire and rescue workers wielding an axe and a crowbar, and a few civilians, two brandishing chairs, had given chase before finally restraining him.
‘One of the guys who was chasing pushed him in the back, then as he was falling the firies got him in the legs, and then they pinned him down with the chairs,’ she said.
‘Then they just sat on him until the cops came.’
‘People couldn’t believe it, then everyone started standing on their chairs to see over the crowd.’
Dramatic picture taken by a tourist in the back seat of a cab shows the crazed knifeman carrying a 30cm blade as a middle aged businessman attempts to bring him to the ground with a chair
By Hannah Moore For Daily Mail Australia
A gripping photograph shows the moment a brave onlooker holding a wicker chair prepared himself to restrain a crazed knifeman in the Sydney CBD.
The man can be seen outside the Hotel CBD on King Street, as the knifeman, believed to be about 25, clutches his knife tightly.
A man with a knife (left) can be seen walking towards a bystander (right) who was forced to use a chair to protect himself
The picture was taken by tech worker Ayusha, who was on holiday in Sydney.
‘We just came across the guy with a knife on the street,’ she captioned the image. ‘Apparently he had some blood on his shirt. We are all safe in the car.’
The knifeman was seen jumping on top of a black Mercedes shouting ‘Allahu Akhbar’ and brandishing his weapon moments before the businessman ran towards him with a chair.
‘Oi,’ the businessman yelled, ready with his chair.
‘Shoot me, shoot me in the f***ing head,’ the knifeman yelled as he stormed through the intersection.